Ozzy Osbourne (Vocals), Tony Iommi (Guitar) and Geezer Butler (Bass) wrapped the first dates of BLACK SABBATH's massive 2016 THE END world tour last week (3/7) in Vancouver, BC to an overwhelming response, from fans and critics alike. The first leg of sold-out North American shows will be followed by a run of summer performances including return visits to Los Angeles (at the iconic Hollywood Bowl), New York,Chicago and 14 additional cities. Tickets for the summer shows are available at www.Livenation.com. See BLACK SABBATH's world wide itinerary below.

Here's some critical feedback from 2016's THE END tour:

"From the pulverizing opening tritone of 'Black Sabbath'...the show was more a celebration of the pioneering heavy-metal band's legacy than an epitaph...each of the musicians was in stellar form in Chicago...now may be the beginning of the end for Black Sabbath, but, as they proved in Chicago and over the years, their music will echo through the ages."

"The beginning of The End happened Friday in Chicago at the United Center, where the band played a two-hour set of snarling hard rock songs, played according to the rules of strict minimalism but always with brawny execution...Black Sabbath remains a genre of its own, combining space jazz and prog-rock, gothic imagery and riff-heavy thunder."

"Sabbath sounded so strong that, at times, it seemed like an absolutely ludicrous idea for these guys to even be thinking about hanging it up. Yet, if the goal is to go out on top--in peak fighting form--then Sabbath is right on track."

"Osbourne was confidently strutting the length of the stage, imploring the audience to clap along...Osbourne led the band through classics like 'War Pigs' and 'Children of the Grave,' exuding bravado and, often, joy. The night didn't belong to Ozzy, though. While bassist Geezer Butler remains rock-solid...Iommi's effortless leads and power-chord riffs laid the groundwork for generations of hard-rocking axe-slingers, yet his attack still sounds fresh and resonant, and his vibrato-laden shreds are as precise as they were four decades ago..."

"Black Sabbath put on as perfect of a farewell show at the Pepsi Center [in Denver] as you could have hoped for. They played, sounded and yes, sung as well as they did in their prime...Instead of leaning on theatrics, they let tight riffs take the audience away...Their astonishing performance Monday night proved the band to be going out with remarkable live chops."

"One of the strongest live rock shows in recent memory...Sabbath performed the music with such power and conviction that songs many of us have heard ad nauseam seemed fresh and new...The fluid rhythms, the interlocking, crushing dynamics between the rhythm section, and Iommi and Osbourne's uncanny ability to switch in and out of the role of avatar of doom and avuncular hype man, rousing the crowd, made for a show that was much more than merely a great performance. It felt inclusive."

"Black Sabbath turned its The End farewell tour into a celebration--albeit one steeped in a little bit of Satanic mechanics...the 100-minute, 14-song show was standard issue Sabbath--Spartan and leaden hard rock played with tight precision."

"Black Sabbath, from Birmingham, England, was foundational for metal, but the music it played on Thursday--all of it recorded between 1969 and 1976--is full of scales related to the blues, which has its own long tradition of despair masking joy. That joy on Thursday was in sound and feeling. You could hear the band in giant, clear, present detail, unusual for the Garden..."

"...he [Osbourne] was on fire last night, hitting all the notes exactly the way you remember them. All the stretched out vowels, all the 'ohh yeahh!'s, everything. In even finer form was Tony Iommi, whose riffs were as crisp today as they are on the early records, and whose solos still screamed. No disrespect to Geezer Butler of course, who shined all night and especially on his bass solo in 'N.I.B.'...There really wasn't a moment where you weren't hearing some of the best heavy metal ever written...The show was also a serious reminder of how even with legions of excellent doom bands popping up for decades, still nobody can do it like Sabbath."

"Black Sabbath were magnificent...what sets Black Sabbath's music apart is how fresh it still sounds...a night free of stage effects or gimmicks, packed with a selection of brilliantly performed songs from the best heavy metal band there ever was and ever will be."

These dates mark the end of the epic journey that BLACK SABBATH began nearly five decades ago. The massive 2016THE END world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time will take the band to Australia and New Zealand in April, then Europe fora mix of summer headlining and festival performances, before returning to North America in August.

As previously announced, a special fans-only CD featuring original artwork by Shepard Fairey/Obey Giant is being sold at shows along the tour route. The CD is comprised of eight previously unreleased tracks: four songs are outtakes from BLACK SABBATH's worldwide #1, Grammy Award-winning album 13 and four live songs from the band's critically acclaimed 13 World Tour.

When this tour concludes, it will truly be THE END, THE END of one of most legendary bands in Rock 'n Roll history...BLACK SABBATH.

BLACK SABBATH's remaining 2016 tour dates are as follows:

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND

Fri

4/15

Perth, AU

Perth Arena

Sun

4/17

Adelaide, AU

Entertainment Centre

Tue

4/19

Melbourne, AU

Rod Laver Arena

Sat

4/23

Sydney, AU

Allphones Arena

Mon

4/25

Brisbane, AU

Entertainment Centre

Thu

4/28

Auckland, NZ

Vector Arena

Sat

4/30

Dunedin, NZ

Forsyth Barr Stadium

EUROPE

Wed

6/1

Budapest,Hungary

Groupama Arena

Wed

6/8

Berlin, Germany

Waldebuhne

**Sat

6/11

Donington, UK

Download

Mon

6/13

Verona, IT

Arena Di Verona

Wed

6/15

Zurich, Switzerland

Hallenstadon

**Fri

6/17

Dessel,Belgium

Grasspop

**Thu

6/23

Halden, Norway

Tons of Rock

**Sat

6/25

Copenhagen, DE

Copenhell

Tue

6/28

Vienna, Austria

Stadthalle

Thu

6/30

Prague, Czech Rep.

02 Arena

Sat

7/2

Krakow, Poland

Tauron Arena

Tue

7/5

Riga, Latvia

Riga Arena

**Thu

7/7

Helsinki, Finland

Monsters of Rock

**Sat

7/9

Stockholm, Sweden

Monsters of Rock

Tue

7/12

Moscow, Russia

Olympisky Arena

**Denotes festival appearance

NORTH AMERICA

Wed

8/17

Wantagh, NY

Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

Fri

8/19

Philadelphia, PA

Susquehanna Bank Center

Sun

8/21

Washington DC

Jiffy Lube Live

Tue

8/23

Holmdel, NJ

PNC Bank Arts Center

Thu

8/25

Boston, MA

Xfinity Center

Sat

8/27

Uncasville, CT

Mohegan Sun Arena

Mon

8/29

Toronto, ON

Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Wed

8/31

Detroit, MI

DTE Energy Music Theater

Fri

9/2

Indianapolis, IN

Klipsch Music Center

Sun

9/4

Chicago, IL

Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Wed

9/7

Dallas, TX

Gexa Energy Pavilion

Fri

9/9

Albuquerque, NM

Isleta Amphitheater

Sun

9/11

Salt Lake City, UT

USANA Amphitheater

Tue

9/13

Portland, OR

Sunlight Supply Arena

Thu

9/15

Oakland, CA

Oracle Arena

Sat

9/17

Las Vegas, NV

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Mon

9/19

Hollywood, CA

Hollywood Bowl

Wed

9/21

Phoenix, AZ

AK-Chin Pavilion

Details on Tickets, VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be found at: www.Livenation.com

Dallas, TX - January 21, 2016. North American syndicated Rock radio show and website InTheStudio: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands fires up the blast furnace with a fascinating interview with co-founder, singer/lyricist Ozzy Osbourne, for the 45th anniversary of Black Sabbath's heavy metal genre-defining second album, Paranoid.

The world into which the Birmingham England band Black Sabbath quickly rose to popularity in late 1970 felt increasingly like a dangerous place. Political assassinations, bombings, race riots, the Kent State College campus slaughter, and the decade-long Viet Nam war all brought Sabbath's dark haunting world vision and bludgeoning hard rock into focus.

But the beginning of Sabbath was something quite different. Ozzy Osbourne shares with InTheStudio host Redbeard the fond memories of those days when he and his mates from the working-class neighborhood of Aston decided to ditch their trendy blues music, cut the band down from a 6-piece to a four, and started doing what Ozzy characterizes as 'spooky music'.

'I took the album home. My mum and pops have got one of these great big radiograms... I put the record on, and my father turned around to me and said, 'Son, I'm going to ask you a question and you've got to be honest to me.' I said yeah. 'Are you sure you're just drinking alcohol?' I said yeah, why, what's the matter? He said, ' This is very odd music. This is not music. This is weird.' ' - Ozzy Osbourne

BLACK SABBATH TRIUMPHANTLY RETURN TO NORTH AMERICA DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND, "THE END" TOUR EXTENDED INTO FALL 2016 WITH ADDITIONAL NORTH AMERICAN SHOWS

Due to overwhelming demand, the road to THE END just got longer.

On the heels of their much-anticipated performances in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, BLACK SABBATH will end the epic journey they began nearly five decades ago with another run of North American dates in fall 2016. These shows will follow a mix of summer headlining and festival performances throughout Europe.

The second run of North American dates kicks off August 17 at Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York and includes stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (where the band last performed a sold-out show on their wildly successful 13 world tour in 2014), Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, and Dallas, among others, before wrapping September 21 at AK-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ.

The massive 2016 world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time marks THE END for Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler as they close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible BLACK SABBATH story with this tour. BLACK SABBATH'sTHE END farewell tour promises to surpass all previous tours and will feature the band's most mesmerizing production ever.